NBA Summer League Betting

The 2015 NBA summer league season is quite a ways off. If you’re looking for information about the 2014-2015 NBA regular season or playoffs read my article on NBA betting first. Also if you’re looking for a league to bet during the off season refer to my article on ASEAN Basketball League Betting. This might sound odd but this is a great league to follow and is rather easy to gain an edge over the bookmaker by just being a fan that reads information and watches the games. With the introduction out of the way, let me now proceed cover betting NBA in July.

About the League

Only a couple years ago the NBA summer league was a chance for teams to test player combinations that differ from their typical lineups. It also gave bench players a chance to work out, rookies their debut, and even sometimes undrafted players a way into the league. It wasn’t too popular for betting for the reason the games were just exhibitions. It mattered essentially none which team won or lost.

Capitalizing on a sudden boost in the league’s popularity (the reason for which I’ll cover soon) last season the format was changed. The Orlando Summer League ran from July 5-11 and involved 10 teams. For the first time ever there was a championship format. The Philadelphia 76ers became the first ever NBA Summer League champions by defeating the Memphis Grizzlies in the title game, 91–75. Elfrid Payton was named the MVP. The Las Vegas Summer League then ran July 11-21 and involved 23 teams. Sacramento Kings defeated the Houston Rockets in the final 77-68 and Glen Rice, Jr. of the Washington Wizards was named league MVP.

The bigger story here is that unlike in years past, starting last season, and the same will be the case for 2015, every game is broadcast on NBA TV. In the United States, your home cable television company might have this channel. If not, and for those living elsewhere, it is possible to watch the games online for a small subscription fee. To do so, see NBA.com Summer League. Here you can also follow live scores, view past results and read league news.

With the league now having a championship, television coverage, and live streams, several online betting sites began offering odds. It however started with not all sites offering this. The ones that did mostly only had the wagering options of point spread (handicap) and over/under (totals), but a select few also offered moneyline (home/away) betting too. Though not taking US players, Bet365 had comprehensive in-play betting on this league that included many other types of wagers.

What was amazing is that at the start of the season there was the huge discrepancies in point spreads and prices between online betting sites. For example on July 6, a European bookie had the Brooklyn Nets -4 -110 (1.90). 5Dimes had their opponent, the Miami Heat, at +5.5 -115 (1.87). That is such a gap that one side has to be +EV. It might even be worth it to bet both sides and try to hit the middle.

The above was not a cherry picked example by any means. The reason the odds were so far apart is that this league was yet covered on most odds comparison websites. As the limits were on the smaller side the bookies were basically treating these the same way they do prop bets. They simply adjusted the lines as they were taking bets. But with shopping multiple sites it was possible to get off market prices and also use several to get down significant action.

By late in the season odds comparison sites oddschecker and oddsportal picked it up, and many sportsbooks that were previously not offering lines began doing so. My advice when it comes to the 2015 NBA Summer League is to stay tuned for the dates. When you know it is coming look to bet the first few days of the season in case there is a repeat of what happened last season. I’m going to conclude this article with betting tips, but first I cover how this league caught on.

How NBA Summer League Became Popular

For starters the league finally means something. The fact records are now held and there is a championship at the end of the season is brand new. This format change came after fans started to take a bigger interest in the league. Having every game available for viewing and a nice section on NBA.com that has live scores that update in real time, archived results, standings and other league news is also new. What happened initially is that everyone loves an underdog story. The summer league became a time to see rookies play for the first time, bench players get a chance to compete, and undrafted players a shot at getting in the league.

There is no success story coming out of NBA Summer League bigger than that of Jeremy Lin. He was undrafted out of Harvard, and invited to play in 2010. He did so well that following it he signed a contact with Golden State Warrior. As the first Taiwanese player in the league he gained a global following nicknamed Linsanity due to his later success with the Nicks. Before even playing an NBA game he had a contract with Nike, and jerseys were being sold. After the 2012 season he signed a 3-year $25 million USD contract with the Houston Rockets prior to having ever played a full 82-game NBA season. Had he not played so well in Summer League would Linsanity ever have happened?

Finally, in the United States betting slows for the summer. MLB betting is still semi popular but nothing like basketball and football or even hockey seasons. Having a league to wager in July keeps fans interested. With the recent changes in league format, and all that has happened to promote this, more and more bookies are now offering summer league betting. If you live outside the United States, Bet365 (no US players) is one of the best sites for betting this. They have in-play live betting all throughout the match which includes team totals, margin of victory, quarter, halves, races to a certain number of points and much more.

2015 NBA Summer League Betting Strategy

This is probably too much work for most casual gamblers and not worth it for professionals. But for someone looking to build a bankroll in July, it is very possible with some work to gain an edge over the bookmakers early on.

What I personally did last season, was find every player I could that was mentioned would be playing on a team this summer league. I then Google searched about them, kept notes and listed mini-profiles about where they’ve played, how many minutes they got, if they were a starter, what pick (if any) where they in which draft, how they did in past leagues, their age, full stats and much more. Then what I did is at half time of teams’ first games I looked at the live box scores. I started researching the players that had decent minutes played or that had scored points that I hadn’t searched on in my previous efforts. I then relooked at the box scores when the game was complete and quickly did the same.

Before the second game of the season for each team, I had a ton of information compiled about the players on each team’s roster. I was then able analyze who has the more talented players, who has the most hungry players, which team has players with a legit opportunity to play their way into the NBA etc.

The above seems like something bookmakers will have already considered, but the truth is most had not. The first few games were very much treated by bookmakers the same way they treat small market prop bets. They just waited for bets to come in and then moved the line. This is one where just following and understanding the teams early it is possible to gain an edge.

This is why at the start of this article I mentioned ASEAN basketball League betting. Here the same can be done during a season that runs July to October, thus by the time Summer League has ended there is a new league possible to bet. That one is harder to research but doing so leads to gaining an even bigger edge over the bookmakers.